We've seen it all before, say teen sex surfers

Pornography is so easily available in the high-tech age that it has become an accepted part of everyday life among young people, a Herald survey shows.

It has become almost impossible to avoid explicit images in website advertisements or junk email messages, according to a Herald focus group made up of high school students aged between 15 and 18.

"I reckon you'd be hard-pressed to find a 17-year-old that hasn't seen it," said Paul*, 17. "You just get over it."

Free email services such as Yahoo mail and Hotmail are particular targets, says 18-year-old Meg, who uses the net on her younger sister's computer at home. "They don't really get filtered properly, so even if you don't know it's actually porn and you open [the email], you see porn right in front of your eyes.

"It's annoying searching for something else and having it pop up," said Michael, 15, who has internet access in his bedroom and says he first saw porn when he was 13. "Basically it is just persistent advertising" and most kids his age just accept it, he said.");document.write("

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But he does admit being caught by his parents searching for adult content online.

It is not just "soft" porn that Michael and his peers see.

"You name it, it's there [online]. Anything and everything and some things you can't think of.

"Any sort of animal sex, child sex - it's wrong," said Paul. "There's a fine line between what you can look at and what you can't."

Apart from the experience of seeing something new occasionally, the material is no longer shocking, says Michael. "It doesn't really affect anything at all."

The really "weird" porn such as bestiality is not as common, says James, 17. "Not unless you're searching for it do you find it.

"I had an idea of what it would be," said Paul. "Some stuff shocks you - if you're on the internet and child porn pops up."

For others, however, pornography is so common it has become something of a joke. "We just do it [download pornography] because it is available and, if it is free, it's free fun - to look at and laugh at," said Meg.

Software filters that are designed to block porn content are ineffective, says Michael. "There's always a way around them. They're really just a waste of time and effort."

But they all agree that trying to view porn online at school is out of the question. "If you're under suspicion, as soon as you sit down in the chair, [the computer system operator] can see exactly what you are doing from across the other side of the school," Michael said.

However, the software filters used at school can sometimes get in the way of innocent work, says Barry.

"Some of the art pages are filtered because they show breasts," he said.